The menageries : quadrupeds, described and drawn from living subjects.

Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The menageries : quadrupeds, described and drawn from living subjects. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    hundred shots had been fired at her. The balls seemed at first to produce little effect, but at length she received several shots in the trunk and eyes, which entirely disabled her from making resistance or escaping, and she fell an easy prey to her assail- ants. “ On the following day, one of our servants came to inform us that a large troop of elephants was in the neighbourhood of the settlement, and that several of our people were already on their way to attack them. I instantly set otf to join the hunters, but, from losing my way in the jungle through which I had to pro- ceed, I could not overtake them, until after they had driven the elephants from their first station. On getting out of the jungle I was proceeding through an open meadow on the banks of the Gualana, to the spot where I heard the firing, when I was sud- ' denly warned of approaching danger, by loud cries of‘ Pas-op!—Look out!’ coupled with my name in Dutch and English; and at the same moment heard the crackling of broken branches, produced by the elephants bursting through the wood, and the tre- mendous screams of their wrathful voices resound- ing among the precipitous banks. Immediately a large female, accompanied by three others of a smaller size, issued from the edge of the jungle, which skirted the river margin. As they were not more than two hundred yards off, and were proceeding directly towards me, I had not much time to decide on my motions. Being alone, and in the middle of a little open plain, I saw that I must inevitably be caught, should I fire in this position, and my shot not take effect. I therefore retreated hastily out of their direct path, thinking they would not observe me, until I should find a better opportunity to attack them. But in this I was mistaken, for on looking